TOKYO -- Applause erupted when the gavel fell at a packed auction in Tokyo as Japan's Mainichi Auction set a new in-house record with the sale of a single tea bowl for 800 million yen ($5 million at current rates) in late February.

The black ceramic bowl known as Kankyo was made by Chojiro, the originator of the raku style. The famed vessel was once owned by Sen no Rikyu, a key figure in the history of tea ceremony. Including fees, the total price paid for the piece was around 900 million yen.

Bidders from the Chinese-speaking world helped push up prices for traditional art at the auction. Their presence "stood out as they accounted for around 20% of auction attendees, and many took part either by phone or online as well," said Hideo Soda, the head of the auction house's traditional arts division.

"They seem to appreciate accessible works, such as exquisite traditional arts that showcase technical prowess," Soda said.

Japan has often drawn on Chinese cultural traditions that developed into their own distinct forms of artistic expression in Japan. Chinese buyers are interested in this influence in combination with the tea ceremony and other Japanese cultural elements.

Jian Xiong, a tea ceremony enthusiast living in Beijing who works at a publishing house, renovated his home to have a small room with a two-tatami-mat floor, modeled after a famed tea room that encapsulates the aesthetics cultivated by Sen no Rikyu. He says he uses the room for tea ceremony gatherings, Zen meditation and other quiet pastimes.

Jian Xiong had this tea room built at his home in Beijing, modeled after a famous one in Japan designed by Sen no Rikyu. (Courtesy of Jian Xiong) The catalyst for his obsession with Japanese tea ceremony was a manga series by Yoshihiro Yamada. "Hyouge Mono" ("A Jocular Fellow") centers on Furuta Oribe, a tea master and warlord from 16th- and 17th-century Japan. Since discovering the tea ceremony, the Chinese fan has traveled to Japan to participate in the practice and to buy utensils used in tea ceremonies.

"The everyday Chinese way of drinking tea doesn't have any strict method, but in the Japanese tea ceremony, the tea is the star," said Jian, who has a beloved collection of tea bowls worth more than 400,000 yen. "That difference is what attracted me to it." Natsuki Ando, who runs a gallery in Tokyo, was visiting a solo exhibition by a ceramic artist when he was struck by a visitor who seemed suspicious. He thought that the person might be wearing a disguise.

The exhibition was offering tea bowls at 10,000 yen apiece, restricted to one per visitor. There was a long line of people speaking Chinese until the exhibit sold out. Some of the visitors may have changed clothes after buying one before lining up to buy another. Buyers are looking at not only pricey works of art, but also more pedestrian pieces.

At his own gallery, Ando also sells crafts for everyday use with an artistic flair. Such items have been gaining "more attention in greater China, with businesses moving to buy them," similar to increased demand in Japan since the COVID-19 pandemic, as people looked to improve their daily living spaces.